The Tasting Room for visitors in now open, as is Home Block Restaurant. The third building — for club members, VIP tastings and offices — will open in the spring of 2020.

The Tasting Room will offer several levels of wine tastings allowing you to explore at your pace all the wines of CedarCreek. Sure to be an early favourite is the Silt & Stone Experience featuring two amazing old blocks of Pinot Noir planted in the early 1990s, as well as vintage variation between the 2012 and 2016 Pinot Noirs.

Metres away general manager Michael Ziff (St Lawrence, Chambar, Alabaster) and chef Neil Taylor (Cibo, Espana, The Fat Badger) are killing it at Home Block. Since I have never used the phrase world-class, and I travel the world, I’m going to use it to describe what has gone on at CedarCreek.

If you are in Kelowna, It is a must stop (5445 Lakeshore Road). More information at cedarcreek.bc.ca.

• Early reports from Bill Jones at Deerholme Farm, Vancouver Island point to a bumper crop of mushrooms in 2019.

Chanterelles and lobster mushrooms in the Cowichan with a broader selection to the west and north of the island, including some porcini in the higher altitudes, have Jones excited and planning a series of mushroom dinners that will sell out quickly.

First up is an Italian Mushroom Feast (Sept. 28), highlighted by risotto with milk braised pork hock and porcini mushrooms. A Duck and Mushroom Dinner (Oct. 19) features duck ragu, smoked sweet onion and wild mushroom polenta, and braised kale; at the Pine Mushroom Dinner (Nov. 9), the appetizer is pine mushroom and spot prawn gyoza.

B.C. wine of the week

LaStella Espressivo 2016, Okanagan Valley

$39.99 | 90/100

UPC: 808755015238

Espressivo is a Tuscan-inspired (Bolgheri) red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon mix with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Sangiovese, all picked from the home south Okanagan vineyard on the Osoyoos West Bench. After 20 months in Slavonian and French oak barrels, puncheons, and botti the 2016 Espressivo expresses ripe, soft, plump fruit, with plush plum, blackberry jam and mild baking spices. It’s ready to drink with the likes of rabbit or roasted mushrooms or cellar it through 2020. Impressive.

Wine for the cellar

Greppone is like stepping back in time in Brunello, offering up a nose of worn leather, tobacco, and tar with classic dried cherries. The attack is fresh and intense, but it carries its weight effortlessly across the palate with red fruits and more tobacco and earthy notes before finishing long with a tug of tannins that suggests it will have more to give down the road. A sleeper you can try now with grilled meats and mushroom dishes, but it would best to wait through 2023 and beyond. Good value.